1. Statement of the Technical Field
The invention concerns communications systems employing numerical sequence generation. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for the digital generation of an accelerated and/or decelerated chaotic numerical sequence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chaotic systems can be thought of as systems which can vary unpredictably due to the defining characteristics: sensitivity to initial conditions; being dense; and being topologically transitive. The characteristics of denseness and topological transitivity mean that the resultant numerical values generated by a chaotic circuit take all possible values without clumping together. When measured or observed, chaotic systems do not reveal any discernible regularity or order. However, despite its “random” appearance, chaos is a deterministic evolution.
There are many types of chaotic communications systems known in the art. Such chaotic communications systems offer promise for being the basis of a next generation of low probability of intercept (LPI) waveforms, low probability of detection (LPD) waveforms, and secure waveforms. While many chaotic communications systems have been developed for generating chaotically modulated waveforms, such chaotic communications systems suffer from low throughput. The term “throughput” as used herein refers to the amount of payload data transmitted over a data link during a specific amount of time.
There are many communications system applications where it is desirable to accelerate and/or decelerate the chaos generation process in an arbitrary manner. Traditionally, the process of generating and satisfactorily synchronizing two or more chaotic numerical sequences simultaneously is extremely cumbersome. The required updating of chaotic state information limits the practical amount of user data throughput. Further, since a chaotic signal has near infinite repetition period, the ability to rapidly synchronize or update the current state to any arbitrary past or future state is desirable. For example, if a first communications device is turned on during a first year, then the first communications device transmits chaotic signals relative to an initial state starting at time zero (t=0). The chaotic signals can be generated by combining a payload data signal with a chaotic spreading signal. In such a scenario, if a second communications device is turned on during a fifth year and is provided for receiving chaotic signals from the first communications device, then it is desirable to immediately synchronize a process for generating the identical chaotic signal for use in deciphering the received signal.